Outsourcing of some Non-Core Activities in Railways

New Catering Policy has been notified on 27th February, 2017 with the objective to provide quality food to rail passengers by unbundling of catering services on trains. Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) has been mandated to carry out the unbundling by creating a distinction primarily between food preparation and food distribution. In order to upgrade quality of catering services, IRCTC will engage service providers from hospitality industry for service of food in trains. In the case of tourist trains, products, executive lounges etc. service providers are engaged. Further, in order to provide better and improved services to passengers, Indian Railways has decided to hand over the Retiring Rooms/dormitories and their management to IRCTC. Expression of Interest (EOI) has been called for for Empanelment of Reputed Organizations by IRCTC to undertake the work of Renovate, Operate and Transfer of retiring room in a phased manner.

Railways also propose to outsource the housekeeping of major stations and trains by engaging professional agencies so that integrated cleaning can be taken up as a specialised activity.

Indian Railways is going for development of Commercial Contract Management System (CCMS) for management of internal processes related with commercial contracts to improve the efficiency and performance.

Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) have been signed between the Zonal Railway and Railway Board for the year 2016-17 to ensure accountability and improve performance.

This Press Release is based on the information given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Rajen Gohain in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha on 12.04.2017 (Wednesday).